Joma on peace talks with Marcos gov't: Why not?

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is open to peace negotiations with the Marcos government, according to Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison.

"[The] NDFP is always open to peace negotiations with the GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) whoever is president," Sison said during the June 28 launching of his book.

"It was Duterte who terminated the peace negotiations in 2017… but if the incoming Marcos administration is willing to talk, why not?" he added.

The NDFP is the political wing of the CPP.

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. took his oath as the 17th president of the Philippines on June 30. His security adviser, Clarita Carlos, has rejected peace talks with the CPP, saying the government is "done with" it.

Acknowledging this, Sison, on self-exile in the Netherlands, said, "[T]here are no indications that Marcos would like peace talks."

While Sison stressed the NDFP's policy of openness to peace talks, he however noted the impossibility of resuming the negotiations amid the government's current policy of all-out war.

"There is nothing that the NDFP can do to resume the peace negotiations if the GRP insists on carrying out an all-out war policy," he said. —KBK, GMA News